Patch had gone missing from his home in Kilcock, Kildare (20 miles outside Dublin) on Tuesday night.

His worried owner had immediately done “the usual social networking thing,” reported the Associated Press. She posted pictures of the dog on Facebook and appealed for people to keep an eye out for him.

On Wednesday morning at 6.48am Patch boarded a train from Kilcock to Dublin.

He was quickly spotted by the train’s staff. They renamed him Checkers, joking that perhaps he could be trained to check tickets for them. However, when the train came to a stop in Dublin, they realized that the dog’s owner wasn’t on the train.

The spokesperson for Irish Rail, Barry Kenny, said Twitter was the ideal platform to aid them in the search for the dog’s owner. Speaking to Today FM’s Ray Foley he added that it was just as well it worked so speedily.

He joked, “It was good she showed up so quickly, because the staff in the office were getting quite attached to him.”

Anglin soon picked Patch up from the train station and brought him home to Kildare, documenting their journey home and posting photos on Twitter. She said other passengers on the train kept asking: “Is that the dog from Twitter?”

Patch’s heart warming story has now become an internet sensation. His story has been featured on Fox News, Times of India, The Washington Post, and even Patch.com.

AP noted that the entire situation illustrated what a tech-savvy nation Ireland is - no more missing dog posters on lamp posts for the Irish.

Patch, the Jack Russell terrier, who took the train is reunited with his ownerIrish rail